Briefs/police

May 09, 1989

TRAIN KILLS MAN

SOUTHAMPTON - A 22-year-old Ivor man was killed within sight of his house Monday morning when he drove his car around railroad gates and was struck by a Norfolk and Southern freight train going 60 mph.

William Henry Reveal, 22, of Railroad Avenue, was dead at the scene of the 10:45 a.m. accident.

State Trooper Elwin Kessler said Reveal was headed south on Route 616 just west of Route 460 as he approached the Norfolk and Southern tracks.

"The gates were down, the lights were flashing and the (train's) horn was blowing," the trooper said, but Reveal drove his car around the gates and onto the tracks, where the car was rammed by the eastbound train and knocked onto the south side of the tracks. Kessler said the engineer applied his brakes when he saw the car but the train was going so fast, it took three-fourths of a mile to bring it to a halt.

An employee of Smithfield Packing Co., Reveal lived with his parents in a house just south of the tracks.

DROWNING PROBED

ISLE OF WIGHT - An underwater depression may be responsible for the death of a former county man who drowned in Florida last week while attempting to save the lives of his 3- year-old granddaughter and a 6- year-old child.

Staff Sgt. Miles "Peter" Taliaferro, 39, died Wednesday while on a picnic with family and friends at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. Taliaferro apparently went into Tampa Bay to help the two children when he got caught in a deep sand depression about 5:30 p.m., said Capt. Dian Lawhon.

Both children were eventually pulled from the water and taken to an area hospital, where they were later released.

POLICE/COURTS

ISLE OF WIGHT

A 29-year-old Smithfield man was arrested Saturday after allegedly receiving shipments of cocaine through the mail.

Michael Dashiell Thacker of Route 4 was arrested at his home in a joint operation conducted by the county Sheriff's Department, the Smithfield Police Department and U.S. Postal Service inspectors. Police found cash and three ounces of cocaine, valued at about $6,000.

Thacker was charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it. He was released on $25,000 bond.

Thacker allegedly received packages of cocaine through the Smithfield Post Office beginning sometime in March, said Sheriff Charles Phelps. Thacker allegedly received the packages once every two weeks, which aroused the attention of postal workers.

Phelps would not say where the packages came from. The arrest marked the first in the county stemming from alleged use of the Postal Service to conduct drug transactions, he said.